所以，要“如实知”某事物，必得回答下列五个问题：
　　(一)它的“性”、“相”是什么？
　　(二)它的“集”是什么？
　　(三)它的“味”——吸引力是什么？
　　(四)它的“患”——猛烈的毒性是什么？
　　(五)“离”——脱离它影响力的善巧是什么？

So, to really know something we must answer these questions:

First: What are its properties?

Second: What is its origin, its birthplace?

Third: What is its assāda, its attraction?

Fourth: What is its ādīnava, its harmful property, its danger?

Fifth: What is the nissara.a, the means of escape from the power of the object?

　　对任何事物，如果从这五个观点去学习，你就会战胜它。现在你或许正在大学中求学，或已经毕业，或任何学历都好，假使我们没有从这五种属性来学习，那么，就会“败”给世间(被世间所制、所役)；如果我们以这五种属性来学习，就不会“败”给世间。因此，在这世间的学院里学习，务必要谨慎。为什么我们要学习，是为了在世间建立和平，那么，就要十分谨慎，如果它不符合佛法原则，我们将得不到有利的成果。

There are five questions altogether. If you study any object from these five points of view, you will get the better of that object. At the present time, you may be studying on the graduate level or post- graduate level. But if we are not studying from these five points of view, then we are mastered by objects, that is to say, by the world. If we study the world in terms of these five aspects, there is no way we shall be mastered by the world. So let us be careful about study- ing the world. Why are we studying? For what ultimate purpose are we studying? If we are studying so as to build peace in the world, then let us be very careful. Our studies will bring no beneficial results at all if not based on this Buddhist principle.

　　虽然在三藏教典里很多地方都提到“味”、“患”、“离”，但你或许从未听过它们，这三个字可以说几乎未曾在我们的眼前、耳里出现过，但请大家记得，它们在三藏教典中屡屡出现。当佛陀要传递对任何事物的“如实知见”时，就依这个准则教导，有时他把它省略了，只取后三点：“味”——该事物诱人的本质是什么？“患”——过患的本质，该事物伤人的特质是什么？“离”——出离的本质，战胜该事物的善巧又是什么？

You have probably never heard of these things called the assāda, ādīnava, and nissara.a, yet the Tipi.aka is full of them. These three words — assāda, ādīnava, and nissara.a, hardly ever present themselves to our eyes or ears, but please remember that they appear frequently in the Tipi.aka. When the Buddha wished to impart a real knowledge of anything, he taught along these lines. Sometimes he cut it short, considering only the last three points. What is the nature of the object’s assāda (its allurement)? What is the nature of its ādīnava (its harmful properties)? Every object has both attractive and harmful qualities. What is the nature of the nissara.a (the cunning manoeuvre by means of which we can get the better of it)?

　　换句话说，有个藏著钩的饵悬在那里，“味”是美味的饵，勾引鱼儿上钩；藏著的钩是“患”，即藏在饵中危险又残酷的恶毒力量；“离”是那战胜钩、饵的善巧，为了吃到饵又能不上钩，鱼儿必须有这种善巧，这时饵再也没有饵的功能，只是个美食，鱼儿可以愉快地吞下它，而不会被钩住。

There is, so to speak, a hook hidden in that bait hanging there. The assāda is the juicy bait enticing the fish to bite. The concealed hook is the ādīnava, that is, the dangerous, cruel power to harm which lies hidden inside the bait. And the nissara.a is the technique for outwitting the hook and bait. The fish must have a technique for eating the bait without becoming hooked. The thing called the bait then no longer functions as bait, but becomes instead a good piece of food, which the fish can happily swallow without getting hooked.

　　因此，我们应该常以这五种属性看世间。世间的一种属性——“味”(饵)，引诱我们沉溺其中，昏昧不醒、盲目无知，看不见也听不到其他的一切，这样饵里就藏钩，人被钩在世间而不得逃脱，只得沉溺在世间(苦)中。
　　现在，圣人清楚地看出“味”、“患”、“离”是如此这般，所以能吞食世间的饵而不被钩住，他们充分认知这五种属性——“性相”、“集”(生起因由)、“味”(饵)、“患”(钩)和“离”(善巧)，彻底明了每件事物，他们就这样生存于世间。所以，要了解任何一种事物，我们必须学习认识全部五种属性，或至少后三种。

Therefore, we ought always to look at the world in terms these five aspects. One aspect of the world, the assāda, the bait, lures us until we become so deeply engrossed in it that we turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to all else. But there is a hook inside it. People who get hooked up on the world cannot break free; they have to drown in the world, that is, in suffering. Now, the ariyans (individuals well advanced in practice) look and see that the assāda, the ādīnava, and the nissara.a are such and such. They are thus able to live in the world, swallowing the bait of the world without becoming caught on the hook. They know every object well enough to be fully aware of these five things. Its properties, its samudaya (root cause), it assāda (bait), its ādīnava (hook), and the nissara.a (strategem). To know any object we have to learn about and come to know all these five factors, or at a minimum the last three.

　　不论我们要做什么，接触什么，甚至学习什么都好，都要以这个原则来观察，我们就会知道如何抉择，然后才能获取最大的成果，而不会受到伤害，这叫做“如实如”。依照“如实如”修学佛法，抛却烦恼将是一件容易的事。以这五种属性观察世间，我们将见到它外表充满了“味”，而内在则隐藏着“患”，就会了解世间像骗局、像伪钞、像诡计、像幻境，不会因此上钩，也不会迷恋它，时时刻刻以智慧连心，就是以这五种属性正确地观察色、声、香、味、触、法，而不会被世间、六尘所征服，也不会产生爱、取，我们就自然而然地过着“空”和生活。最后，修学佛法以进趋涅槃，就是我们能力可及的了。